Kraft and Belichick are not dummies. They knew exactly what Hernandez was all about when they drafted him. Over the first few seasons he showed that he was a good talent. The Pats were winning, and that cures everything. Pats were smart about it.

NOW, to think that Kraft and BB are trying to cover up, or aided and abetted Hernandez in any way is really stretching. Worst case scenario, they cover up things like Hernandez gets into a fight, Hernandez tells a fan to screw off, etc. I doubt Kraft would risk his name, franchise, and money over one person's lack of maturity and good nature just because he's a good tight end.

Kraft and BB took a risk on someone who displayed poor character. It paid off for 3 years. That's it.

I agree about Kraft. No way he is this stupid.
BB, on another hand, will feed his mother liver to his kicker, if it increases his accuracy by 5 percentage point. What does he got to loose? His reputation probably cannot get worse, lack of post-spygate rings being a final nail in a coffin. He will go for anything to get himself another "award". Helping a known murderer may be not even the worst thing he would do.

I'm sure the Pats trolls will be along shortly to tell us all about the Patriot Way and how Hernandez just slipped through the cracks, but in the NFL, things don't just slip through the cracks. Teams have security departments filled with former detectives, PI's, etc. They had to have known what kind of life Hernandez was leading, and they kept it quiet because they needed his skills on the field. For you attorneys out there, any way that their conduct rises to the level of making them accessories to murder?

Are you a moron?

That's a real question. It's good to bash the Pats, but you make the other Jets fans look stupid. We already follow the Jets, we don't need you helping any more.

I'm sure the Pats trolls will be along shortly to tell us all about the Patriot Way and how Hernandez just slipped through the cracks, but in the NFL, things don't just slip through the cracks. Teams have security departments filled with former detectives, PI's, etc. They had to have known what kind of life Hernandez was leading, and they kept it quiet because they needed his skills on the field. For you attorneys out there, any way that their conduct rises to the level of making them accessories to murder?

I'm sure the Pats trolls will be along shortly to tell us all about the Patriot Way and how Hernandez just slipped through the cracks, but in the NFL, things don't just slip through the cracks. Teams have security departments filled with former detectives, PI's, etc. They had to have known what kind of life Hernandez was leading, and they kept it quiet because they needed his skills on the field. For you attorneys out there, any way that their conduct rises to the level of making them accessories to murder?

Originally Posted by EternalChampion

Involved in the murder? No. Involved in covering up for Hernandez's crimes? Remember, he's being investigated for a 2012 murder - if he was involved, he would played a whole season after allegedly committing it. Do you think the Patriots security department might not have uncovered something and been told by the men upstairs to keep it quiet? Who knows, but would anything surprise you with them?

Originally Posted by EternalChampion

But should they have known? Could they have known? Would they have wanted to know? Would they have stopped him? At least talked to him? Is this a symptom of a wider problem, not just in the NFL but in the world at large? People just don't talk anymore. Everyone's on their smartphones, always in a hurry, rushing off to the next thing which they won't get into the moment for either. Have we forgotten how to care? It may not rise to the level of criminal conduct, as I said before: I am not a lawyer. But what the hell's happened?

This is a fine topic and unworthy of the shabby treatment given to it by our mods. Shame on you mods! tsk. tsk.

The short answer to the OP question is no, there is no chance in my opinion the Krafty or Belichcik will get fingered on this one. Crime families do not look kindly upon soldiers who rat out the crime boss and I think we have seen enough to know that Aaron Hernandez knows how this game is played.

I do believe that the Patriots organization knew more than they are letting on. Did they know about murder? Any of them? That one is tougher to tell but even if we say no they did not know about those, does it necessarily then follow that they could have known nothing at all about any unsavory aspect of Aaron Hernandez' life? This is the false dichotomy that patriots fans are setting up for people here. Either Belichick and Kraft were in the car with him pulling the trigger or else they must be completely Lilly white and free of any stain of involvement in this episode. No middle ground exists. I know that this is the sale that Pats fans want desperately for everyone to accept. If they didn't know about murder then they didn't know about anything at all. Case closed. Move along please. Nothing to see here....

Bollocks.

They (the Patriots) did more research than anyone else on this because so much of THEIR capital was tied up in him. It was THEIR risk. They have the best and most capable intel department in football because that's what the "smartest" team in the league does doncha know. They are smarter and more diligent than everybody else. We know this because wicked smaht Pats fans have been telling us all about this for the better part of a decade.

Yes I think the Patriots found out some unpleasant things about AH after the big deal but falling somewhere short of knowing about the murder. I think the Pats did not have any idea what to do with this potentially explosive information and so they did nothing with it. I think they were stuck on the hook for a pretty large signing bonus and there was ZERO chance of them "gifting" the release of Aaron Hernandez to the rest of the league while the rest of the league did not know anything.

Fast forward to an execution style murder.

I think it is completely reasonable to ask the Patriots to make public any internal reports on Aaron Hernandez' off the field exploits. If the reports were researched by an independent company then the Patriots should ask that company to release the reports so as to avoid any possible accidents involving a shredder up in Foxboro.